Stock Photography Sales
There was a time when stock sales of photography brought income to photographers. In some cases photographers specialised in producing stock photographs. Many would say that there stock was like a ‘pension’. Photographers don’t say that anymore! What they are left with is an archive and I wonder how much of it will make money.
I have some images with a small (independent) photo library that specialises in selling images of religion. On my numerous visits to India I was commissioned to shoot images for children’s books which were aimed at schools and covered the national curriculum. Some of these images I placed in the photo library. Having a library with specialist knowledge of your stock helps to sell it.
With the big libraries like Corbis and Getty swallowing the independents, and then the arrival of microstock sites it is harder for the smaller libraries to secure sales at good prices. Most libraries take a 50% commission before VAT. All libraries are having to use new technologies and new ways in which to make an income. All of this mean investing money.
Photographers are using agencies like Alamy to sell their work. It means a lot of photoshopping and some admin work to get things off the ground. There are also sites like Digital Railroad where you can place collections of your work. Alamy’s guidelines for rejecting images inlcude: Camera shake, Chromatic aberration , Colour cast, Compression artifacts, Data loss or corruption, Blemishes - Dust, scratches or sensor dust, Excessive sharpening, High contrast… So there’s plenty to think bout. They go into detail about all aspects of submitting images, a very useful resource to look at!
One of the images in the library illustrates a Hindu ceremony. An image I shot several years ago at a Hindu temple in Ealing. It was shot on medium format with one Metz flashgun. It’s not always possible to light situations properly. Most photographs of this type were shot on 35mm and not medium format.
This image was shot in Varanasi (Benares), India. Over several years I photographed under commission and personal as well. The images were used by educational publishers mostly for primary and secondary education.
oh great… as i don’t have any incomes at all from my photography and as i would like to slowly change that i was starting to consider making stock images but apparently i can forget about that..
PS. do you have specific projects around religion? fascinates me…see also my forelast post (”unbelievable”)
I’m also trying to get into submitting some stock from my library. PhotoShelter seem to be much more forgiving than Alamy. They cite all the reasons you mentioned above, even if they’re not even present!
I agree with your comments about specialist libraries. Even in the mass markets of today, there will always a space for niche stuff.